Sedan Hybrid: Lexus LS 600h L

If solar panels on Al Gore’s 20-room mansion and Vanity Fair’s 300-page annual green issue make you feel queasy about the eco-chic spin on our sustained environmental and energy crisis, then the Lexus LS 600h L might make you feel downright nauseous.

The Top 10 list of why the Lexus LS 600h L is the most bizarre and misguided hybrid:

1. A hybrid powertrain on a 5-liter V8 engine.
2. 430 horsepower (equivalent of 6-liter V12).
3. City/highway mileage rating in the low 20s.
4. 70-percent cleaner emissions than the “cleanest” of its V8 competitors.
5. Noise and vibration levels are about half of conventional cars. (“This is the kind of vehicle that travels slightly detached from the road, the local environment, and anyone else that doesn’t have a near 7-digit income,” writes Art Vatsky in AutoBlogGreen.)
6. Since you can’t hear anything outside the cabin, the vehicle uses two-cameras and a radar system to detect approaching objects and humans. A third camera mounted on the steering column monitors if the driver’s head is turned to the side. If a car, object, or pedestrian gets too close, the “advanced pre-collision system” alerts the driver with a chime and a flashing light.
7. Each vehicle is hand-sanded twice during the painting process.
8. Lexus aims to sell 1,200 to 2,000 units in the U.S. (Is this profitable for Lexus?)
9. Starts at $104,000. (At this price, you could buy four Priuses, keep one for yourself, and give three away as cute gifts).
10. The Lexus LS600h L is an amazing showcase of Lexus’s creativity and technological sophistication—all applied to a vehicle that is completely out-of-step with our times.

If any of our more affluent readers are thinking about the Lexus LS600 L, by all means, have some fun. But don’t kid yourself that you are doing anything to help the world.